How much focus are you putting on 'Team'?

A while back i started to have a look at Lencioni's 5 dysfunctions and wrote some thoughts down. After a number of conversations this past week relating to some of the ideas in his model,?i went and found my scrawlings and decided to drop them in here. They go back to a department I?was introduced to within a water company. They were starting a Sustainable Performance Excellence engagement (what we refer to as SPEx for short - our version of Operational Excellence).?

“what have you been up to previously”, I asked.?

“we did some work around Patrick Lencioni’s 5 dysfunctions”, was the response.?

My immediate thought was, I’ve not read that and so I asked the leader to tell me more. As he described what they had done, their engagement with it and the fact they all had a copy of the book I decided I need to read this, at least so I can understand what has come before.?

So,?I got a copy and read it through and?as I?read,?I realised the close connections between the key lessons I believe Lencioni was trying to impart?and?the work we have been doing around our Sustainable Performance Excellence programmes.

If you haven’t read it it’s about Kathryn, a new CEO who has been brought in to help the exec team to become a better functioning team.

Here’s a link to a bit more of an overview of what the books about:

Click here to find out more about the book

Following my first read I decided I needed to help the team link what they had started through to what they would do next and that’s why I initially wrote this down. It’s for the team to help them understand at a deeper level, to generate some further conversations and to tie an existing pathway into a new one.

And so, here’s the notes I made as I thought about Lencioni’s fable and what we call Sustainable Performance Excellence (SPEx)

The Problem - Teamwork

The book describes teamwork as a rarity, elusive, that teams are inherently dysfunctional and its bigger than strategy. I agree. Kathryn, the person brought in as the new CEO didn’t have a huge?background in?operations,?but she did know about teams. A very astute decision was made bringing in this person as the problem had been identified as a problem with teamwork.??

Do you have a problem with teamwork?

Lots of teams will say they work well together or that they are high performing but their marker around what teamwork really means is way off. I’m not sure how common it is for a business leader to target this type of?problem but?given the importance of teamwork surely it should be more common.

Why isn’t it?

Team work is a goal and is the basis of Lencioni's model and any Operational Excellence type engagement.

The commitment - Leadership

The company in the story was having a tough time. There was a reason for change that was backed by the board, hence why they brought in a new CEO. Support at the top needs to exist in this story otherwise the change that happens next is largely unachievable.

Whenever an Operational Excellence programme is proposed it’s the same requirement. In?fact,?for any change in any organisation there needs to be the backing from the right level of leadership to ensure its successful. This isn’t anything new, in fact everyone seems to know this. So why does this problem seem to surface again and again??

You can see the potential impact of this in the story, when the team are asked to attend an offsite where a few people have a problem accepting the importance of spending this time and initially close off to the challenge. The behaviours they display are clearly?negative,?but they can’t see it.

This is interesting as they have been given the remit to prioritise it. Without the backing from the board, this problem would have been difficult to work through.

Kathryn is looking at this initially as an outsider and so can see things differently. This can happen with?SPEx?if the coach is able to spend enough time observing. There is a point of clarity at the outset where she highlights the need to ‘let it happen’. Again, leaders at the top of the organisation need to understand what is been asked to commence and to back it otherwise it is pointless starting and can be more damaging.

Imagine if Kathryn had been removed after just the first couple of months, the company would have been doomed.

Clarity at the outset for what comes next is key. Are the right people bought in and are they clear on what they are bought in to?

The Challenge - what is the team fighting for

In order to get the team onto a common ground around what the joint focus is, Kathryn creates a challenge statement. She states they have more skills, better products and working capital but they are still behind their competitors – or something to that effect.

During the?SPEx?engagements I’ve been involved with, setting the challenge is fundamental to the sustainability. Getting the challenge framed well though, is no simple task as it needs to resonate with everyone, they need to care.

I really like what she does next with this challenge. She refuses to stop saying it until it is no longer true. That’s not that she says it every 2 minutes, but she does open every one of their main meetings with it. She uses it as a tool to remind the team constantly about the direction they are moving in and the big challenge.

Setting challenges is at the core of?SPEx?and the improvement and coaching habits created that support this.

What cause is your team fighting for right now? How do you know they are? What big challenge are the team working towards??

The Meetings - when the team come together

There is a great example in the book when Martin starts to work on his laptop during the first meeting. He’s disengaged and demonstrating a behaviour that is opposed to that of ‘team’. He points out that the conversation isn’t always relevant and so he’s given a chance to speak up.

If we think about when we are on teams calls (a large part of the day probably) how engaged are we with what is in front of us? Often people will be doing other things with cameras off. This is the Martin equivalent.

With lots of meetings it’s important that they bring value.

Kathryn understands that a great team spends a decent amount of time together. At the heart of what we have been doing with?SPEx?is the idea of spending time together and lowering some of the barriers that may exist whilst driving through conversations that help the group to come together, closer as a team.

How do you measure value around your meetings? How much of that is focussed on tangible outputs as opposed to the intangible?

The Mindsets - are people willing to change

I’m going to focus on one character here and that’s Mikey, the marketing VP. She has a very closed mindset. The whole of the time she does not?open up, she is very focused on individual rather than team.

Mikey is unable to integrate into the team in large as they begin to move mindsets more to the ‘how can we…’state and they develop more trust. The challenge for Mikey is that of self-awareness and an open mindset. Mikey is unable to look at herself objectively. She probably realises it is there but doesn’t feel comfortable in acting on it. When asked about her weaknesses she points to her financial skills (a safe response). For some reason Mikey cannot trust.

Mikey is an extreme example of someone that cannot?take a look?in the mirror. Self-awareness is?really low?even when confronted with the situation around leaving the team. When we talk about putting up the mirror it takes a leader willing to accept that they are not perfect, that they need to work on themselves and potentially change. Kathryn is asking?all of?the team to change in some way and an inability to?take a look?in the mirror and accept the reality is a major barrier.

This is the grounding of everything we are doing within a?SPEx?programme as changing the environment for teams starts with the idea that leaders have the biggest influence on creating that environment.

How often do you hold the mirror up and how does that change what you do next??

Let's leave it there for now....

There was more.

But given the length i'll curb it there for now and maybe drop the rest another day.

Enjoy the start of summer

Jason

The Utility week live event is due to take place next week on the 21st & 22nd May and due to our focus on this particular sector, we'll be there.

In collaboration with the Institute of Water we'll be supporting the following conversation on day one??"Innovation and beyond: how can we transform the industry’s approach to people and talent?

Sign up for the 2 day event is free.

Here's the link, we would love to meet some of you there:

Utliity Week Live 2024

Linking to the idea of teams, here is a one pager that outlines a process we often use with teams, functions, departments to help them bring everyone together.

Click for team vision one pager

Sustainable Performance Excellence is our adaptive system for improving the health of organisations.

Right now we are offering at least one free day for one of our team to come spend in your org, function, team to help you understand how you can best move the dial.

If you or your teams are interested to find out more, drop us a message today to learn more and get started at [email protected]